Most people do not normally associate Facebook with buying or selling homes, but one real estate agent turned motivational speaker is changing all that.

James Goddard says that the sales force that quickly adjusts to the media that works for real estate will benefit the most from them and will be able to take advantage of the changing world around them.

He goes on to mark Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as leading sales platforms for real estate marketing, saying that “These (social networks) are the main ones that will give you the greatest return on your time investment.”

Goddard’s discussions on these three social networking sites points out how buyers and sellers can gain a significant amount of information that would normally be difficult to find in a matter of minutes.

Connecting with agents on Twitter and then exploring their options in Facebook and LinkedIn is the main draw for users here. Comparisons, appraisals and even negotiations can be made with a stroke of the keyboard.

Another agent by the name of Curt Darragh believes that YouTube will be the next great tool for real estate marketing. “Pictures are nice, but they can sometimes be misleading,” Darragh says; adding that video-sharing sites like YouTube as a useful platform for quick and convenient information.

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Small Business Saturday is a 2010 event founded by American Express to recognize the contributions made by local, independent businesses. It was also designed to help drive sales and patronage to these small businesses.

American Express is planning to conduct Small Business Saturday again this November 26 – except with a little help from some of the biggest names on the Internet.

Facebook will be giving out $100 in free advertising for the first 10,000 small business owners that sign up for the ads. AmEx will pitch in by providing a tool that will make page-creation smoother and look more professional in the end.

Google and AmEx will partner up to bring My Business Story, which will allow small business owners to create videos about their businesses and post them on the Internet. These videos can then be set on the business’s home page, circulated on YouTube or posted on networking sites. My Business Story should come out sometime this October.

AmEx itself will contribute to Small Business Saturday by sharing offers on its YourBuzz conversation aggregator. These offers will give business owners a further $100 to spend on more Facebook ads, $100 credit for LinkedIn ads for 6,500 business owners and free offerings or 50% off from from Facebook-page creator Pagemodo.

This article is sponsored by Equifax Small Business Credit Report that helps you stay up to date on the credit report of your business and monitor the paydex score of any business you are thinking of doing business with.

Many politicians keep on parroting about how important small businesses are for the recovery of the battered U.S. employment.

But how exactly does a person go about starting a small business in the first place?

This is a question posed by one reader to Jacqueline Taylor in a column for the Houston Chronicle. Taylor promptly goes on to give the following advice:

Write a business plan. “Having a plan to guide you through the startup process will help you stay on track, but the real benefit is in researching, analyzing and articulating your ideas so that you have a better feel for whether your business is viable”

Pay attention to market research. “Identify your target market by age, gender, level of education and income, and find out where they are and how you can reach them.”

Develop an online presence. “Even if you’re not ready to start, you can get your website development under way.”

Begin networking. “Go to chamber of commerce and other business organizations’ meetings. This is a good way to get some real-world feedback and to get practical advice from people who have been in your shoes.”

Plan a budget. “Having a good idea of how long it will take you to make a profit is a major key to a confident startup.”

Taylor is an associate regional director for the University of Houston’s Small Business Development Center as well as a C.T. Bauer College of Business Administration. The entire column can be read here.